Declaration by Vaira Vike-Freiberga,
President of the Republic of Latvia regarding 9 May 2005Riga, 12 January 2005

On May the 9th of this year,
Latvia will be celebrating Europe Day together with 24 other European
democracies. We will be commemorating the 55th anniversary of
the signing of the Schuman Declaration, which sought to establish a
durable peace in war-torn Western Europe, and which paved the way for
formation of what is now known as the European Union.

On May the 8th, Europe will
also commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the
Second World War. This conflict was unparalleled in its savagery and
brutality, and resulted in the largest loss of lives that humanity has
ever experienced during wartime.

The end of this war had one undeniably
welcome result. It led to the fall of the Nazi German regime, which had
occupied and subjugated over a dozen European nations, and which has
been responsible for the killing of millions of innocent civilians
throughout Europe. In my own country of Latvia, the Nazi Germans and
their local accomplices carried out the most heinous and large-scale
crimes against humanity to have ever been committed on Latvian soil.
They annihilated over 90 % of Latvia's prewar Jewish community, as well
as tens of thousands of other Jews whom they transported into Latvia
from other parts of Europe. The Nazis also drafted tens of
thousands of Latvian men into their army ranks to serve as live cannon
fodder, in a shameless violation of the Geneva Conventions regarding the
rules of warfare.

Latvia, together with the rest of
Europe, rejoices at the defeat of Nazi Germany and its fascist regime in
May of 1945. However, unlike the case in Western Europe, the fall of the
hated Nazi German empire did not result in my country's liberation.
Instead, the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
were subject to another brutal occupation by another foreign,
totalitarian empire, that of the Soviet Union.

For five long decades, Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania were erased from the map of Europe. Under the Soviet rule,
the three Baltic countries experienced mass deportations and killings,
the loss of their freedom, and the influx of millions of
Russian-speaking settlers.

On May the 9th of this year,
Europe's leaders will meet in Moscow. This is the date when Russia
traditionally pays tribute to the millions of Russians who died during
the Second World War, and celebrates its costly victory over Nazi
Germany.

As the President of a country that
subsequently suffered greatly under the Soviet rule, I feel obliged to
remind the world at large that humanity's most devastating conflict
might not have occurred, had the two totalitarian regimes of Nazi
Germany and Soviet Union not agreed to secretly divide the territories
of Eastern Europe amongst themselves. I am referring to the shameful
agreement signed on August 23rd of 1939 by the foreign
ministers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Vyatcheslav Molotov and
Joachim von Ribbentrop.

A week-and-a-half later, as a direct
result of this disgraceful pact's secret supplementary protocols, Hitler
invaded Poland and started the Second World War. The Soviet Union then
occupied the eastern half of Poland, with Hitler's full compliance, and
invaded Finland later that year. Then, in June of 1940, the Soviet Union
invaded and occupied Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. These invasions and
occupations had been foreseen and agreed to in advance by Hitler and
Stalin.

It is precisely these two dictators who
bear the brunt of the blame for the immense human loss and suffering
that resulted during the war that ensued. In commemorating those who
lost their lives during the Second World War, we must not fail to
commemorate the crimes against humanity committed by both Hitler and
Stalin. We must not fail to mention these two totalitarian tyrants by
name, lest the world forget the responsibility that they bear for
beginning that war.

For Latvia, the beginning of the end of
the Second World War arrived many decades later, on May the 4th,
1990. This was the date when my country's parliament passed a
declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. This May, Latvians
will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of that historic
declaration.

On May the 1st of this year,
Latvia will be celebrating the first anniversary of its accession to the
European Union. This is the date that truly marks the end of the Second
World War for my country. It marks the end of artificially imposed
spheres of influence. It marks the return of my country to an extended
European family of free and democratic nations.

As a full member of the European Union
and the NATO Alliance, Latvia is proud to be able to take part in the
construction of a new and better Europe, a privilege that had been
denied to my country for decades. For this reason, I, as President of my
country, have decided to attend the summit of Europe's leaders in Moscow
on May the 9th of this year. In doing so, I will be
demonstrating Latvia's resolute desire to take part in all significant
meetings that concern our continent's past history, as well as its
future.

In commemorating Europe Day, I will be
celebrating the fall of fascism and the resurgence of freedom and
democracy in Western Europe. I will be celebrating the birth of what is
now known as the European Union and I will be rejoicing at Latvia's
membership in this significant international body. I will be paying
tribute to those who lost their lives during the Second World War. But I
will also be commemorating, with great sadness, the renewed Soviet
occupation of my country, and the immense human loss and suffering that
ensued as a result; not only in Latvia, but throughout the former
captive nations of Central and Eastern Europe.

In attending the official events in
Moscow, I will be extending a hand of friendship to Russia. Latvia
invites Russia to display the same degree of conciliation to Latvia,
Estonia, Lithuania, and to condemn the crimes of the Second World War,
regardless of who committed them. All leaders of democratic nations
should encourage Russia to express its regret over the post-war
subjugation of Central and Eastern Europe, which ensued as a direct
result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. In this, Russia would be
following the same path that its Western neighbours have assumed: the
path of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the respect of human
rights.